Friendship spans the continents,
continues beyond tragedy and death

by Barbara Garrison

Unbreakable bond: John Weiss (left) and his best friend's son, George Muhia

Where are rare moments in life when two people meet and form an unbreakable bond that even death can't diminish. It happened to John Weiss, art, when he stepped off a single engine Cessna in Loyangolani, north Kenya, in a 104º windstorm and Charles Muhia, handed him a cold Coke.

This is Weiss's description of his first meeting with Muhia:

"Standing and waiting next to a four-wheel drive, a smile on his face, a cold bottle of Coke extended toward me, is Charles M. Muhia. I take the bottle and we shake hands. I've just met the best man I'll ever know."

When AIDS took "the best man he ever knew," in April 1997, Weiss vowed that Muhia's children, Nancy, Edwin and George, wouldn't share the fate that so many African orphans of AIDS have experienced. So, Weiss, who teaches photography at UD, immediately organized a fundraiser for the support of his dear friend's family.

That year, in April and May, he, his students and fellow faculty members raised $2,000. Since then, they have raised a similar amount every year–for a total of $10,000.

They raffle merchandise and gift certificates donated by local merchants, faculty and students, hold bake sales and accept donations. The benefit ends with the raffle drawing and a slide show from Weiss's Africa portfolio, "Kenya Heart-to-Heart."

The money raised pays for school, books and clothes, shoes and food for the children being raised by Muhia's mother.

As a result of the fundraisers, Nancy will graduate from high school this year just as George starts. The family has been able to stay together and live a comfortable secure life in the home Muhia built for them, avoiding the kind of existence that thousands of AIDS orphaned African youngsters must endure.

Weiss's friendship with Muhia began in February 1996, when he was on sabbatical. He planned to spend five weeks on safari photographing as much as he could for a book on Africa that he was compiling. It wasn't his first trip to Kenya.

Weiss had longed to see Africa almost all of his life. But, his career as an art professor and his life as a father and husband kept him from it.

Finally, in 1994, he decided to make his dream come true and signed up for a five-week photography safari through Kenya.

"I fell in love with Kenya. It became a spiritual journey, a state of grace where I really felt fulfilled as a human being," Weiss said.

By the end of 1995, UD had granted him a sabbatical in order to finish his book, and he had received a grant from MBNA America to finance his return trip. All he needed was a guide.

Weiss said he arrived in Kenya with great anticipation. He realized that he was inexperienced and that his guide would be all that stood between him and the dangers that were everywhere in this remote part of Africa.

He said Muhia was a breath of fresh air. "For the next five weeks, Charles and I spent every waking hour together. We survived dangers, some real, some imagined. But even the imaginary dangers were authentic enough at the time to scare us silly. We became confidants, trusted friends, allies, brothers. I came to know this man as well as anyone I've ever known. The only thing I didn't know was that he would be dead in a little more than a year," Weiss said.

With little money or support, Muhia had cared for his family from the age of 13, got an education, received a master mechanic's degree from vocational school, mastered English and became a senior safari guide. He was a single parent with three children and an elderly mother to care for.

During the five and a half weeks Muhia and Weiss spent together, Weiss said he experienced all aspects of his friend's personality, including his incredible kindness, his ingenuity, his extreme competence, his intelligence and his marvelous sense of humor. They even talked about starting their own safari businesses.

"Everywhere we went, he was the center of attention because of his energy, humor and kindness. Everywhere we went, we ran into people who knew him and because he was welcome, so was I," Weiss said.

"I couldn't love anybody more for the kindness and friendship he showed me. There was a deep, deep bond that we forged that even his death can't break."